Welcome
to the Ursimone Wietlisbach Foundation
The Ursimone Wietlisbach Foundation at a Glance.
The Ursimone Wietlisbach Foundation is a Swiss-based foundation established in 2021 by Urs and Simone Wietlisbach with a mission to enable people to live healthy, balanced, and joyful lives.
Our focus is on long-term investments and partnerships to ensure communities have access to holistic health, human development, and active living. Our geographic focus is Switzerland and selected low- and middle-income countries (primarily Cambodia, Laos, Myanmar and its border regions with Thailand, India and Bangladesh).
Our purpose is to help shape a world in which everyone can lead a fulfilling, active life — characterized by meaning, joy, and shared sustainability.
Our
Geographical Focus
We have a dual geographical focus: Switzerland and the Mekong Region.
The Ursimone Wietlisbach Foundation is a Swiss foundation. Through our strategic efforts in the whole of Switzerland, we aim to give benefits back to our country. Our focus is on Central Switzerland, where our roots are. We want to ensure that as many people as possible can lead a healthy, balanced, and happy life.
This area of operations covers Cambodia, Laos, and Myanmar. Due to the current conflict in Myanmar, we are also supporting and working with migrant and refugee population groups along the Myanmar borders with Thailand, India and Bangladesh.
This region, despite having a dynamic, talented and engaged population, often lacks opportunities. Our long-term commitment aims to unlock this potential using our existing strong partnerships in the region, ensuring more individuals are linked with opportunities to contribute significantly to their community’s well-being. Strategic opportunities that hold long-term relevance for our focus region can also be considered in other low- and middle-income areas.
Strategic Opportunities
The Impact We Drive
The Role We Play
We act entrepreneurially and invest in bold ideas and long-term partnerships. This is how we ensure communities have access to holistic health, human development, and active living.
Bold
Ideas
Our Approaches
Evidence building and research:
We support research to build a robust evidence base.
Translating evidence into policy:
We use research findings to influence policy changes.
Implementation with partners:
We are working with partners who are executing programmes and projects directly.
Innovative financing:
We use innovative financing methods to expand our reach and increase our impact and will be exploring and utilizing new finance solutions, including blended financing.
Stakeholder engagement and strategic communication:
We actively involve stakeholders and communicate strategically to build support and awareness.
CONNECTING THEMES
In all our impact areas we strive to include three important themes which intersect our impact areas, namely: inclusion, nutrition and consciousness.
INCLUSION
The foundation aims to promote inclusion by integrating it into all initiatives, recognizing its strategic… advantage and essential role in society. Disabilities are often invisible and affect individuals at all stages of life. By 2035, the goal is to be a leading inclusive funding foundation that inspires others.
NUTRITION
The foundation recognizes the fundamental role of nutrition in health, human development, and sports,… aiming to establish it as a cross-cutting theme in all funding areas by 2035. Nutrition is crucial for physical and mental health, cognitive development, and athletic performance, and addressing it can help prevent rising issues like obesity, diabetes, and cardiovascular diseases.
